Free
by Funny Kitten
Summary: Quinn is staying with Mercedes. A little more of the Quinncedes friendship. In between "Funk" and "Journey."


**_So I love the Quinncedes friendship, and after "Funk" it ind of disappeared for a while, so I wrote about what happened when Quinn went to stay with Mercedes. There's also some Quick in there._**

"Here we are," Mercedes said, pulling up at a nice big house (though not as big as Quinn's). "Fort Mercedes."

Quinn smiled as she exited the car and Mercedes helped her get her suitcase out of the trunk. Mercedes was so sweet. Why hadn't Quinn hung out with her before? She couldn't remember.

As the door to the Jones' house opened, Mercedes's mother appeared. "Quinn! Hi!" She said in a cheerful voice.

"Hi, Mrs. Jones," Quinn mumbled, suddenly feeling awkward. Here she was, a pregnant teenager, staying in her new friend's house because her parents kicked her out of her own.

"C'mon, Quinn, I'll lead you to your room," Mercedes said, leading Quinn up a flight of stairs.

"Wow. Mercedes, this is...awesome. Thank you _so _much," Quinn breathed as they stepped into her new (for the time being) room. It was painted a nice soft purple, and there was a blue carpet. A big enough bed was in the top left corner (from where Quinn was standing).

Mercedes shrugged, hands in her pockets. "It's probably nothing compared to what you're used to,"

Quinn snorted. "Please. After staying with _Puck_? This is heaven." She turned and gave Mercedes a hug. "Thank you," She whispered.

"You wanna see my room?" Mercedes asked after a moment.

"Yeah!" Quinn said, starting to feel a little bit better. Maybe everything would work out alright.

Mercedes's room was painted black with streaks of purple. Pictures covered an entire wall of her room. Quinn laughed as she came across one picture of Mercedes and herself hip-bumping in Glee.

"You're room is awesome, Mercedes," Quinn commented.

"Thanks," Mercedes said as she collapsed onto her bed. She still wasn't sure about how she felt about Quinn Fabray staying in her house. Quinn Fabray was the same girl who teased her. Quinn Fabray was the same girl who bought Slushies for Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman to throw in everyone else's faces. Quinn Fabray was the girl who, instead of lending a hand, would laugh when someone was tripped in the hallway.

But if that described Quinn Fabray, then the girl standing in front of Mercedes definitely wasn't her. This was a different Quinn Fabray, a nice one who had realized what true and utter pain and rejection felt like. Mercedes tried multiplying the emotional pain of getting Slushied by twenty, then fifty, then seventy, and remembered how hard is must be for Quinn to get kicked out of her own house.

Quinn traced a picture of Mercedes and Kurt at the Lima Freeze with her hand, looking sad. Then Mercedes noticed something on her wrist. A rope bracelet. But Mercedes recognized that bracelet. It was Puck's.

"You like him, don't you?" Mercedes said.

"Hm?" Quinn turned her attention fully to the girl she had once thought was a loser but she now saw was just as-if not even more-badass than her.

"Puck. You like him," Mercedes didn't ask. She was certain. Why else would Quinn be wearing one of Puck's rope bracelets?

Quinn shifted her weight nervously. "Well, what if I do? It's not like he likes me back, anyways,"

"He likes you enough to let you stay in his house,"

Quinn turned and stared at Mercedes, who was looking right back at her. "You really think he likes me?"

Mercedes nodded. "I do," She said sincerely.

Quinn smiled, blushing. Then she shook her head and said, "Whatever. Your house is a mansion compared to his house. And they didn't have a guest room."

Mercedes's mouth dropped open. "No. You were _not _sleeping in the same room as _Noah Puckerman_."

"Uh-huh. For God-knows how long." Quinn laughed a little.

"Well, you've already slept _with _him, so what's the dif-" Mercedes yelped as Quinn threw one of Mercedes's shoes, which had been lying near her, at her.

"Shut up," Quinn groaned.

Mercedes grinned, stood, and flung an arm around the blond used-to-be-cheerleader. "Okay, okay. But seriously, you through another shoe at me and you are _out of here_."

"Aw, you're no fun," Quinn giggled.

Mercedes thought. Then she picked up one of her pillows, and tossed it to Quinn. "Here."

"What's this fo-?" Quinn had time to say before Mercedes smacked her with another pillow.

"Oh, you did _not _just do that! You are going _down_, Jones!" Quinn shrieked, whacking Mercedes back.

Mercedes laughed. "I feel like a little kid again!" She cried.

"Oh, hell yes!" Quinn practically screamed, raising the pillow above her head.

Mercedes took the opportunity to smack Quinn in the stomach with her own pillow. Quinn doubled over and fell, crying, "I am slain!"

Then the two girls burst into laughter.

Quinn was reminded of the food fight she had had with Puck. It had made her feel so free, and she forgot all about the pregnancy, and the fact that she had been kicked out of her house, everything bad in her life was gone. She could pretend she was back in her Cheerios uniform with her hair in its classic blond ponytail. She could pretend that she had never made the mistake of sleeping with Noah Puckerman, that she had never become pregnant with his stupid kid.

As she reached over to slap the hand Mercedes offered her, Quinn realized that no matter what happened in the future, it was all okay at the moment. She was with one of her friends, acting like a little kid. And no matter what, she would always be able to remember when Mercedes Jones, diva that she was, allowed her, Quinn Fabray, to stay with her after she was kicked out of her house.

And for the first time in what felt like forever, Quinn Fabray smiled and felt sincerely and truly happy.


End file.
